The pilot episode probably had more expectations placed on it than any other TV show in recent memory, at least from the fans who you would expect to be the target audience. I'm not sure exactly what anyone else expected from a Marvel TV show, but looking at the first episode, it's about what I thought it would be. The stories have to be smaller scale than the things we've seen in the movies so far, and it's a procedural, so they need to try to create self-contained plots that drive the show while they parcel out bits and pieces of information for the larger mythology.

I liked the gadgetry in the first episode, and I think the cast is solid. Brett Dalton's got the sort of character to play that is going to be hard to make interesting, only because someone has to be the straight man while everyone else gets to be quirky or eccentric. I'm curious to see how they fill in the backstory for Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), and I already enjoy the chemistry for Fitz/Simmons (Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge).

The three major throughlines this season, based on the pilot, would appear to be, in order (1) who or what created the Centipede? (2) How did Agent Coulson really return from the dead and (3) Is Skye (Chloe Bennet) actually who she claims to be?

I'm good with those. Certainly seems like a strong place to start things. As an actual stand-alone episode, I thought the pilot was okay. I liked the fight choreography because it looks like it hurts, and Agent Ward isn't a superhero, just a very well-trained human agent. I thought Maria Hill's appearance was okay. You get the feeling she's there specifically because they can't have anyone bigger show up. I did like the line, "The battle of New York was the end of the world. This is the new world." I'm sure it would feel that way if you actually lived through the events of "The Avengers."

The return of Coulson is interesting. At least they acknowledge the improbability of it in the dialogue, and I found his description of his recuperation very interesting. His description of Tahiti is how I imagine Heaven. "Mai Tais. Travis McGee novels. And a physical therapist whose command of English was irrelevant." I guess the Cellist is no longer part of his life, eh? When he walks out of a room and Hill and Ron Glass talk, it's obvious there's something big brewing.

Okay… why? I assume it's no accident that Coulson keeps referring to Tahiti as a "magical place." Marvel's slowly but surely building to the introduction of pure magic in the Marvel movie universe, and it sounds like this could be part of that push.

It's smart that we're seeing tech from the entire Marvel movie universe show up, like the Chitauri neural link they recover. The Centipede is an interesting creation, a mash-up of Chitauri metal, Erskine's original supersoldier serum, gamma radiation, and the Extremis tech from "Iron Man 3."

I thought the interrogation between Sky and Ward after he got shot with the truth drug was pretty great. Smart way to riff on a scene that's been done a billion times. It also reminds us that Coulson will do anything to get the reaction he wants.

It very much feels like a Whedon show. It does not feel like it's aiming for the same sort of cultural space as something like "Mad Men" or "Breaking Bad." This is popcorn, designed to keep you tuning in week after week.

And after the first episode, I'm willing to give it a try. I'll hang for at least a season (provide the show lasts that long) and I'll be here to discuss it with you each week.

And as far as setting a challenge for characters, I love this one: "Something impossible just happened. What are you going to do about it?"

Also, Lola is badass. I want one.

So last week ended with the team getting a call to investigate an "0-8-4." Since that's the title of this week's episode, it's safe to assume we'll get the answer.

It's obvious that there is still a fair amount of fear and uncertainty about having Skye join the team. She may be on the Bus with everyone else, but do they fully trust her? Should they?

The episode opens with a moment that seems to directly call back one of the big set pieces from "Iron Man 3," and then it does one of the biggest tricks in TV writing, flashing back 19 hours earlier.

Coulson sees something in Skye that Ward doesn't, and I have a feeling Coulson is a very good judge of which broken toys to add to his island. And very quickly, we learn that an "0-8-4" is an unidentified object that has been unearthed. They have to go look at it and find out if it's something they can use. Coulson mentions Thor's hammer as the last one they were called in on, so that sort of sets the stage for what sort of thing we might expect.

I thought Fitz/Simmons were more than just a professional team, but it doesn't seem to be the case based on Fitz's interest in Skye.

"Llactapata, Peru
Incan Archeological Site"

"Remember the panic when that anti-matter meteor splashed down off the coast of Miami and almost devoured the city?"

"Nope."

That appears to be one of the most important jobs that S.H.I.E.L.D. does, the containment of knowledge. It's obviously very high tech, but it's been there for 1500 years at least. Could it be alien?

Ward and May are going to make a nice physical team. I worked with Ming Na-Wen one time on a stage play, and I never would have thought to cast her as a badass like this. I'm glad they did, though. I like this sort of casting, where someone changes the way you typically think of them, and I think she handles herself quite credibly.

One of the skills that any TV show has to perfect if it's going to be a success on network TV is the art of picking their act breaks. You have to create a great fun cliffhanger that will leave people waiting for the four minutes that commercials play. It helps when you're showing new footage from "Thor: The Dark World," but you still need to find the right beat.

A Mexican standoff is a very good example. And the resolution is very funny. Coulson knows everyone, doesn't he? Leonor Varela is just as stunning as you'd expect a badass military police official to be in a Joss Whedon show, and I have no doubt that will be a running trend in the show.

As they discuss the political situation in Peru, I thought Ward scored a solid point against Skye, who seems to be an all-purpose techno-anarchist, against "The Man" no matter what. He immediately turns around and makes a very stupid move in removing the artifact from the wall where it was embedded, though.

That thing that sent out the blue blast that knocked all the rebels down? Spiffy.

The device they found turns out to be connected to the Tesseract, the Macguffin that drove "The Avengers," and this ties "Captain America" and "Thor" directly to the series now. By twenty minutes into the episode, they've covered a lot of ground, and it definitely seems like this is a big discovery.

But just because it's fueled by the Tesseract fuel doesn't mean it's a weapon. Whatever happened in May's past, she seems bound and determined not to be drawn back into a combat role. They're going to keep hinting at it for a while, I'm sure, but it gives her something interesting to play even when she drops a whipping on some bad guys.

It's going to be interesting to see if Skye ends up as a conscience to the team, or if she's an agitator who has something more diabolic at heart. Her scene with Ward where she talks about the beauty of people connecting via social media for positive change is solid, and it seems completely genuine.

Right around the time Coulson is telling Commandant Reyes about what he's been doing, and right around the time she's making her move on him, things started to stink. Obviously these people are not who they claim to be, and they have an agenda that you can tell is about to erupt into violence. Ward is attuned to this, and thankfully, he swings into action just as the rest of the team does. It's too late, though, and Reyes and her team take The Bus, and that push-in on Coulson as he realizes that they fell for it is exactly why I think Marvel got lucky when they cast Clark Gregg in what must have originally seemed like a very small role.

"The Cavalry." That's the nickname they use for May, and it obviously refers to something that she is uncomfortable with. The moment with all five of them tied up together in the cargo hold is a chance to start to see the team come together. And then when May does finally show them what she can do, it's obvious that she's not just good… she's the best.

The device that S.H.I.E.L.D. found turns out to have been commissioned by the Peruvians, and they plan to use it to destroy the rebellion that has divided their country. Reyes nails Coulson on some of the things that see to be driving him, but he tells her what her big mistake was: giving his team a common enemy. It was true in "The Avengers," and it's true here. Piss off the entire team at once, and you pay the price.

The real trick of writing a show like this is paying off each of these characters and making them all feel like essential parts of the puzzle. Obviously, this is still early days for the series, but they're already starting to try to pull it all together. And when we finally loop back to the start of the episode and see what caused the hull breach, it's a satisfying wrap-up. How they fix the hull breach? Well, I'd love to know the physics behind that one. Could that really work, or is this some "Temple Of Doom" airplane physics?

I like that the last scene is a quiet one, and Skye's phone message about Rising Tide is enough to suggest that she's going to find herself torn in two directions over the course of the season. Will she betray S.H.I.E.L.D., or will they win her over and prove that the work they're doing is important?

And I have to say… that Nick Fury cameo at the end? Solid gold. "Do you know how much this plane costs? IT HAS A BAR. A really nice one." This is exactly the right way to use Fury, and if the show is going to stand on its own, it has to do so without a constant parade of movie stars.

So far? Enjoyable. I don't feel manic about it, but I'm certainly willing to come back for more. See you guys back here next Tuesday for another recap.

A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.

I dug the pilot. And while it isn’t “bad” I found myself less on board with this second episode. Maybe it was the whole back lot feel of the sets. It seriously took me out of the show’s reality, whatever that is. Also reading people’s reactions to the pilot, it seems like they tended to like actors they were already familiar with and dislike the ones who they aren’t. Stands to reason more episodes that air the better these people will like it. Which also depresses me....that familiarity or lack of it could sink a pretty good show.

Seriously? This show is popcorn, yes, but STALE popcorn. I've been struggling for two weeks to figure out how to describe this show, and tonight, I finally figured it out. This show is a 90's syndicated reboot of the A-Team crossed with Sci-Fi Channel Stargate. Actually, it aspires to be Stargate, but it's not there yet.

It just feels so cheap and so small. I realize they have a TV budget, but this should be the BIGGEST TV budget, not something that looks cheaper than "She Spies". This is the TV show that is spinning off from the third highest grossing movie of all time, and it should feel epic. They should be able to find a few more bucks to throw towards what should be the flagship show of the network.

The only thing that makes this a Marvel show (beyond the obligatory post-credits cameo) is the occasional bon mot of "Tesseract" or "Extenz" or "Captain America".

As to the Whedon stuff.. gah! This show is trying WAY too hard to pander to the Whedon fans. Hopefully they'll get most of the really painful dialog out of the way early and settle in to something more palatable.

Not enjoying this show even one little bit yet. Biggest TV disappointment since... since I can't remember what was as big a disappointment.

Heh - I was thinking A-team too... It is a Marvel-verse and the baddies of the week were (in part) faceless rebels? Ugh. There is so much rich material to draw upon and although I get they want to build up the team - couldn't they devise a more palpable and ominous 'common enemy' to do so? No suspense and no thrills other than Phil's adorable smirks. And even *that* may get old.

I got the same feeling I did from the pilot -- shallow and contrived. Sigh.

I think it's an OK show with the potential to be better, and hopefully it will get there.

But man, what is ABC thinking with those lame-ass shows that follow it? Seriously, that's the best they can do? They do want people to KEEP watching their network on Tuesday nights, right? While shows like SHIELD are a step in the right direction for them, most of what airs on their network is such bottom-of-the-barrel crap these days. They really need a major overhaul of their entire lineup and development process.

The SHIELD jet was given the designation "616", which is (probably not coincidentally) the designation of Earth in the Marvel comics Multiverse (Earth-616).

My bet is that Coulson is a Life Model Decoy (LMD), which has been a SHIELD staple since the 1960s, rather than a clone or that he was magically cured (if that was the case, why could he never find out?). Essentially, they're mechanical clones who don't know they're clones. I'm assuming the real Coulson was killed in "The Avengers" and this LMD was programmed with his memories and a "R&R stay in Tahiti" to explain his absence.

About the fight choreography: Daniel Craig said in an interview for Casino Royale that he thought a movie fight "should make you wince a bit", and that is the best description I have heard of the sort of impact I want a fight to have. Bourne movies do that. Older Whedon shows don't. So I'm glad to hear that "it looks like it hurts" when it comes to the fighting, because otherwise there's just no point to it.

Somehow this show is just about as good as I had hoped/wished. No better, no worse. Maybe a little "vanilla" for my taste.

Also, and this is because I am grumpy and humorless: Coulson's car at the end of pilot was lame. Obviously it was something Whedon thought would be awesome and cool and fun but the reveal was just flat. And the effect was terrible. As I said, that's me being a grump, but you all know I'm right.

So far still just OK. It seems a bit too straightforward, but I suspect the twists will show themselves soon. For me, Skye is the big weak link. That actress is not selling her dialogue. And that last bit while sending the text was a whole lot of giant obvious facial expressing. That might be on the director though. Driving things home with the big unsubtlety hammer. Best things: everything Coulson, Ming Na, the metal pole in the ground weapon thingy, and Sam the Man.

I'm really enjoying this show so far. The second episode didn't have quite the same emotional payoff that the J. August Richards character offered up the pilot, but there were some great action set pieces and the characters are coming along nicely, particularly Chloe Bennet as Skye. I was expecting the second episode to feel smaller and shakier than the pilot as the show began to find itself, but if anything it felt bigger and more confident. That's a promising sign.

I definitely don't agree with those who are saying that the show looks "cheap". Compared to an MCU movie? Sure. But if that's going to be the standard, then the show never had a chance. Compared to other shows on TV, I think that this looks pretty damn good.

There have been a couple of groan-worthy lines of dialogue in each episode, but there was also some good repartee and on the whole I think that the writers came out ahead. With Joss Whedon attached, there are going to be expectations for the dialogue that the show will likely find it difficult to meet week-to-week. But I'm looking at this more as a Marvel show than a Whedon show, which means that I'm going to appreciate the elements that Whedon adds to the table while not expecting them to form a central pillar of the show. I don't need this show to be Firefly or Buffy to be worth my time, any more than I need an MCU movie to be an awards-worthy film. I just want both to be entertaining. Mission accomplished so far.

Sorry, but this show is terrible. The characters are all cardboard cut-outs, the plots are almost non-existent, and worst of all it's just boring! I wanted to give it a chance because of Joss's involvement, but his other shows were good because they stemmed from original ideas and he clearly had something to say or was excited by them in some way. It actually reminds me of the Charlie's Angels remake from a few years ago: a cynical attempt to cash in on a well-known property with zero sense of excitement from anyone behind the scenes. Also, the appearances by Cobie Smulders and Samuel L. Jackson just feel like blatant attempts to create buzz/remind people that "hey, this is connected to that other thing that you liked!" Unfortunately, they also remind people that the Avengers was *good* which this show most definitely is not.

Best second episode of a show in a long time. I'm with Greg on that for sure.

Drew, do you see SHIELD adding Coby Smulders in the second season in the mode of "Charlie" from Charlie's Angels, or Higgins from Magnum P.I. where she shows up at the beginning and the end, but has nothing to do with the meat of the show? She's just there to start the show, and then bring the denouement, to wrap everything up?

I think that would give her the chance to go be in films, and still be an important part of the Marvel Universe as a whole.

As for the Peruvians, I think we all kind of saw that coming. But it's the execution that matters more than the cliche, and I think they executed well.

This is the first episode were Jed Whendon and Maurissa Tacheron took over for reals from Joss, I believe. I know he directed the pilot and was heavily involved in story, but if this is where the show is heading with Lil'Whedon and Tacheron taking the reins, I think we're all in for a good time.

I like that they're putting Skye in the position Wesley was in in Angel Season 3; that of working with the team but at the same time, working at cross-purposes with the team. I just hope she also doesn't get her throat cut for her troubles.

I think Ward can settle into kind of the Angel role of the straight man who can have fun once in awhile; who's a bit of a smartass. Also, Ward reminds me of early Boreanaz: he's kind of stiff. I hope he gets over that quickly.

I'm enjoying myself with this show. I just wish Trophy Wife was on right afterwards instead of the unfunny The Goldbergs. That way it would be 90 straight minutes of awesome.

Well, since you asked -- the physics of the airplane scene don't exist. In the real world a hull breach would've caused all of the air in the plane to be sucked out in 30-45 seconds. After that the plane would equalize with the outside pressure. The upside is that the only people sucked out would be those unlucky enough to be right next to the hull breach. The downside is that there would not be enough oxygen for the other people to breath, and so they would all be quickly dead. That's why there are oxygen masks in commercial airliners in case of depressurization.

Personally, I was rooting for a Temple of Doom style scene. Totally unrealistic, but a lot more fun.

It's funny, but I think Whedon has outlived his own tropes. We've seen the exact same tropes since Buffy -- bad-ass woman who can take out 5 burly men in a single leg kick (Buffy, Faith, Zoe); nerdy scientist/computer geek who seems useless but then saves the day (Willow, Fred, River's brother); pretty popular person or burly muscle who thinks everyone else is in the way and doesn't really want to be with these people (Cordie, Gunn); and paternalistic male who is "guiding" them all. And they're all misfits until they band together and become the Scooby gang...yada, yada.

I'm not saying the show won't end up good, but it feels incredibly dated and stale right now. The dialogue is just bad, the "mysteries" seem really shallow, and all I kept thinking last night was that the Torchwood team did it better.

It's fun, I like it, and I dig the way it's integrated into the MCU. I'm not sure I understand what kind of expectations other people have for this, but I never expected anything more than a lark. And my kids love it, which is a bonus.

The real yeoman's work will be to get me to care about the characters (other than Coulson) on an emotional level. Ward is a character sieve, Skye and May's characters are going to be dominated by the mysteries surrounding them, and Fitz/Simmons are primarily there for comic relief. Until they can get consistent character out of the main cast, they're going to need heroes/villains of the week who can keep people's attentions. Time to hit the Whedon rolodex some more, see what Nick Brendon, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Reed Diamond etc are up to.

Both -- alien technology/substance repurposed bv the Germans, methinks. A foreshadow perhaps of some yet unknown world domination seeker. Hey, if one piece was found, surely some malfeasant has already unearthed another... maybe. Likely no coincidence that super soldier serum hearkens from same era.

I've been trying to figure out what's missing from this show — why it seems insubstantial to me. I think it's that while Whedon's shows have always offered plenty of nerdery and fun — and SHIELD has that — underneath that surface, big questions were lurking, questions about the nature of existence, destiny, purpose and free will, power, conformity and nonconformity, and so on. SHIELD seems to lack any of that depth. It's just fluffy fun, which is okay, I guess, but I think I've grown to expect more from a Whedon show.

It's funny... we all keep calling it a Whedon show and while it technically is, this is being run by other people and written by a staff that is not a close-knit group he's collaborated with for years. Lots of new voices in the mix. I feel like this creative team is at the place where Joss was at the start of the first season of "Buffy." He didn't get his legs under him really until the end of that season and the start of the next. I'm willing to see where this team goes, and if they can take a fairly routine start and evolve that into something new.

It's a Whedon show for exactly the reasons laid out by Robin above. The writing staff is absolutely 100% writing what they think is a Whedon show, with all the exact same beats and self-referential jokes. All the characters act like they know they are in a TV show.

Be all that as it may, I would be fine with the show if it at least FELT big. The Peruvian rebels (all one jeep of them) were less interesting this time than they were the last fifty times they were used in the A-Team.

Ok.. i think they have sent clear hints that Coulson did actualy die on Avengers, which will be in linw with Joss' classic no-fear of killing beloved major characters.. so, let's get our geek minds together, and speculate how is he alive? resurecction? LMD ? clon with his past memories ?

My problem with this show is the characters. I wish they'd gone with older actors (Clark Gregg and Ming Na Wen are fine; the Fitz-Simmons characters and Skye make this feel like a show aimed for teenagers). I'll probably watch a couple more episodes before I decide if I'm going to bail, but right now it is just OK. Better than Once Upon a Time/Revenge/Scandal).

Also, I'm sad that this show is probably going to get tons of publicity while Almost Human will probably get none and therefore no one will watch it. Ugh.

Gregg is great - he fully sells the wisecracks, he's competent, charming, and in command. But everyone else is just sort of bland. I think everyone has potential - Chloe Bennett is adorable and likable, Ming-Na Wen is badass and likable, the Scottish techs are likable...everyone is likable, but not particularly interesting. That can easily change, of course. Even a top-tier show like Breaking Bad starts out with essentially cardboard character types (think of how one-dimensional Jesse was in the pilot), and then builds them into real three-dimensional people as we see them in action. As the relationships between these characters grow, I hope to care about them more. But right now, when Coulson is talking about how strong his team is and how he's sure they're going to come through for him, I can't help wishing he was talking about his OTHER team.

Some of the dialogue in this episode was really corny, especially the bonding scenes (the line about learning each other's lingo but still not being able to talk to each other...GROAN). And I differ with Drew on the Nick Fury scene - his dialogue was painful. It was way too self-consciously Sam Jackson-ish, and Jackson himself seemed to be struggling to get through it.

I think the danger of doing a show set on the fringes of the Marvel Universe is that it can never really be its own thing - it can't build its own independent mythology, it has to spend time hinting at aspects of the world that we know we're never going to see on-screen, and the audience is always going to be sorta wishing we were somewhere else in the world. It's a real up-hill battle, and I don't envy these writer/producers.

I think one of the problems is that they aren't using the universe enough. Marvel has a rich, deep universe that the show could theoretically pull from. But I feel like the network would balk if the show dives too deeply into that world, because the network thinks it can get both the Marvel geeks AND the people who just liked the Avengers as an action movie. So the show will end up satisfying neither crowd, and it will continue to be mediocre.

Whedon was at his best when he was able to go all in on his world. The Avengers worked because it was all-in as a comic-book movie. If ABC doesn't allow SHIELD to really embrace what it is, complete with aliens and magic and unexplainable phenomena, I don't think it will succeed.

I've been too spoiled by good TV. This show is quite average in comparison. The Pilot was okay but nothing special. And now we have the traditional second episode that dips in quality after the pilot.

I'll keep watching for a bit but it needs to be a lot better. How would it look if the Marvel tv series got cancelled after a few episodes? If they want to support the movies and act as a bridge they better bring their 'A' game. This is not it.

I liked the pilot quite a bit but was substantially less impressed with the second episode. Joss' absence in the script was noticeable. I also think the show is maybe trying to go too large-scale, and it comes off as cheesy. I'd rather see them do slightly smaller stories and have it look better then try to replicate Peru in Southern California.

I also disagree about the cast - I like Coulson, Skye is OK, and I think the guy who plays Ward shows some potential. But Fitz/Simmons are annoying and, worse, are completely unfunny. I also think Ming Na is horribly miscast as a "mysterious badass", which is strange to me because this is the type of role Joss usually nails with the casting.

I'm hanging in with the show because of Gregg and the Marvel commection, and because I think once they hit their stride it could be a lot of fun. I just hope the ratings hold up enough to allow them to get there.

I am curious about a couple of seeeekrits so far: 1. Could Melinda May not want back in the field because she was a pawn of Loki's? 2. Could Coulson either have been resurrected as the Vision or could he have been resurrected by "magic" done by a mysteriously strange Doctor?

Thought it was better than the pilot, but still a bit, well, dull. It feels like it's trying too hard to be funny a lot of the time. Clark Gregg and Ming Na are just streets ahead of the other actors, but hopefully this will balance out as they all get comfortable in their characters. The Sam Jackson cameo at the end was great, streets ahead of the rest of what was in both this episode and the pilot, but again, he and Gregg have had time to build that chemistry.

And as far as Coulson goes. I've never seen how they could make a big budget Dr Strange movie really work, despite Feige's love for the character. Using him in the show could work really well tho if they get a really big name to play him as a recurring character. A spell where he brought Coulson back to life but he couldn't know as it would put him into some form of shock that could kill would work well. I can already see the 'Coulson in coma, flashback episode' happening, where they explain what happens and uncover some other 'secrets' from Coulson's past. It would also be a good episode to give Sam Jackson a meaty part as his role was explained and his relationship with Strange and how he brings him in.